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While preserving the DIA and its art collection has been the focus of much attention during Detroit's bankruptcy, the smaller, more fragile Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History has been struggling. (See story.)

The latter got a shot in the arm last week when the W.K. Kellogg Foundation donated $1 million to help it improve its ability to raise money, known in the industry as "capacity."

The goal is that the money, combined with previous donations, can be used to help the museum build a more sustainable business model, which it sorely needs.

When the museum moved into its building 17 years ago, about half of its $6.7 million budget came from the city. An additional 30 percent came from earned income, such as memberships, admissions and events. That left about $1.4 million to raise from other sources. Today, it receives less than $1 million from the city to help support a much-diminished $4.7 million budget. Just less than half — roughly $2.1 million — came from outside donations. Given the city contribution is more likely to decline than increase, the museum needs to consider a future in which essentially all of its income is earned or from donors.

The June 6 Nonprofit Quarterly examines sustainability questions around African-American museums through the prism of the Wright and identifies issues of fundraising, sense of purpose and the importance placed on African-American culture.

The article notes that although the Wright has received $21 million in foundation funding over the past decade, that pales in comparison to the nearly $370 million committed by local and national foundations to the "grand bargain" to shore up the Detroit pension plans as part of the bankruptcy case in exchange for spinning off the DIA from the city.

Schroeder Cherry, a board member of the Association of African American Museums, puts the questions this way in the article: "Is African-American history and culture considered as important as the legacy of European culture in Detroit? ... It's a conundrum, whose culture is worth saving, whose culture is deemed important to save (and) who are the connectors within the museum" to the resources that can help build sustainability.

Museums like the Wright are important in preserving history and culture. Its future depends on its ability to fundraise more broadly, geographically and demographically. Saving the DIA and its collection is critically important, but so are other institutions that represent our regional and national history.

The museum also is getting aid through a foundation-paid contract with the DeVos Institute of Arts and Management at the Washington, D.C.-based John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. But it also could use a dose of executive volunteerism — through board service or other actions identified by the museum — to help it execute its plan.